Rocktrospectiva: The Influential "Face Lift" Turns 35

Released on 28 August 1990 "Face Lift" was the debut studio album by the US rock band Alice in Chains. The album spawned two singles  "We Die Young", and "Man in the Box".  The album peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 chart. 

 

Back in the day, the local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of Alice in Chains at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the state's history. The final demo – dubbed The Treehouse Tapes – found its way to managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989. 

 

Alice in Chains became a top priority for the label, who released the band's first official recording in July 1990: the promotional EP We Die Young. Its lead single and title song became a hit on metal radio. After its success, the label rushed Alice in Chains' debut album into production with producer Dave Jerden. "I told Jerry Cantrell, 'Metallica took Tony Iommi and sped him up. What you've done is you've slowed him down again,'" Jerden recalled. "He looked at me and said, 'You got it.' That's how I got the gig." Facelift was recorded at London Bridge Studio in Seattle and at Capitol Studios in Hollywood from December 1989 to April 1990. 

 

Guitarist Jerry Cantrell stated the album was intended to have a "moody aura" that was a "direct result of the brooding atmosphere and feel of Seattle." Regarding the music for "Man in the Box", Cantrell said in the 1999 Music Bank box set, "That whole beat and grind of that is when we started to find ourselves; it helped Alice become what it was." The idea of using a voice box in the song came from producer Dave Jerden, who was driving to the studio one day when Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" started playing on the radio.

 

Cantrell also credited "I Can't Remember" for helping the band find its sound. "It Ain't Like That" came out of a riff that Cantrell cited as a mistake, however he called it "a cool mistake." Cantrell also called "Love, Hate, Love" the "masterpiece of that record," adding about the song that Staley's vocals are "amazing" and that it features one of his favorite guitar solos he ever performed.

 

Regarding the lyrical content, Cantrell said he wrote "We Die Young" after "riding the bus to rehearsal and [seeing] all these 9, 10, 11 year old kids with beepers dealing drugs. The sight of a 10 year old kid with a beeper and a cell phone dealing drugs equaled "We Die Young" to me." In a recorded interview with MuchMusic USA, vocalist Layne Staley stated that the lyrics for "Man in the Box" are about censorship in the mass media, and "I was really stoned when I wrote it." Discussing "Bleed the Freak", Cantrell stated that the lyrics represent "us against the world, those people who put you down." Cantrell wrote "Sunshine" about his mother's death.

 

Facelift peaked at number 42 in the summer of 1991 on the Billboard 200 chart.  It was the first album from the grunge movement to reach the top 50 in America on the Billboard 200, and the first to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on September 11, 1991, followed by Nirvana's Nevermind on November 27, 1991. The album was a critical success, citing Facelift as "one of the most important records in establishing an audience for grunge and alternative rock among hard rock and heavy metal listeners.

 

Althought Facelift was not an instant success, selling under 40,000 copies in the first six months of release, until MTV added "Man in the Box" to regular daytime rotation. The album achieved ti capture the bleakness of Seattle in the late '80s and early '90s, Facelift is one of the more realized debut albums of the grunge era, contrary to the band's worries of being unable to find their sound. It's a haunting, distorted, ear-shattering exploration of pain that bridged the gap between heavy metal and grunge fans, and cemented Alice in Chains as one of the most important bands in history.

 

Face Lift Track List:  

 

1. We Die Young

2. Man In The Box

3. Sea Of Sorrow

4. Bleed The Freak

5. I Can't Remember

6. Love, Hate, Love

7. It Ain't Like That

8. Sunshine

9. Put You Down

10. Confusion

11. I Know Something (Bout You)

12. Real Thing